INDYX: Moving Forward
Allison Graham - 19 May 2022
IndyX Fife: Moving Forward, was a ‘one off’ event organised by three indy activists who wanted to reignite the vibrant, energising village and town hall gatherings of 2013/14, where the passion was palpable and anything seemed possible. We agreed our ideal chair, venue, stalls and ‘fantasy panel’ for Fife. Apart from the Greens, who were unfortunately unable to provide a speaker, everyone we asked accepted and contributed with enthusiasm!
We are so grateful to all those who made this event happen, from our illustrious panel; chair, stallholders, media folks, musicians and of course that brilliant audience who snapped up the increased capacity of 200 seats in less than a week, with very little promotion of the event! This free event raised £200 from voluntary contributions for our chosen cause of supporting Ukrainian refugees in Fife.
The best way to demonstrate the event is to show you, as our friends at Independence Live and Phantom Power kindly supported this event.
As is often the case, when campaigns are in a lull period, theories and assumptions with a movement abound, so it’s also important to clarify upfront what IndyX is not. IndyX is not an organisation and it’s not run or funded by any political party; it really is just an idea, by three independence activists, to get ALL of our grassroots movement back in the room.
IndyX is a simply name for a simple solution to, what we felt was, an unnecessarily, complex problem. We wanted to demonstrate that, to create a ‘razor’ sharp case for independence, Occam’s Razor should be applied to shape ‘HOW’ we make that compelling case, in the shortest time, to convince the majority of Scotland that independence is both imperative and urgent.
IndyX is the embodiment of ‘the simplest solutions are often the right solution’. To maximise engagement, must make our independence movement as accessible as possible and remove assumptions and barriers to entry, not construct them.
IndyX had three simple goals:
- to remind people that those of independent mind, do not need permission to connect with each other
- to demonstrate the talent, passion and knowledge across our independence movement through speakers, Q&A, stalls for conversations and informaton
- to inspire others to take our idea and run with it, or create their own.
To support goal 3, we’ll provide a ‘toolkit’ to help folks fast-track their own IndyX gathering. We’ve all got busy lives, commitments and challenges so, the simpler we can make things for people, the more likely they’ll engage!
IndyX Fife was intended to be a one off event to prove to ourselves that by calling on friends from across the movement we could create a gathering of our Independence Family and reconnect after two years forced apart by a global pandemic. The urgency to reconnect is two-fold as many of us have experienced not only an understandable nervousness on internal gatherings even as restrictions are lifted but also a sense of a depressed mood across the indy movement.
This has been highlighted by many of our most inspiring contributors, stepping back; out of a combination of exhaustion and frustration and we need everyone back, energised and productive in whatever way they can. Scotland must reconnect to tackle priorities from, shameful national cost of living crisis and devastating global climate emergency in our green energy rich nation! To resolve the root cause of Scotland’s failure to thrive for our people and make critical contributions globally, we need to reimagine our aspirations for a better country for all of us.
To do this, Scotland need to be inspired: Scotland needs to be independent!
The strap line for INDYX Fife was ‘Moving Forward’ and we hope that’s what we achieved by inviting a cross party and none panel to come together to present their latest thinking to advance the case for Scottish Independence to help move forward our common cause. Almost eight years on from the day that Scotland’s future truly was in Scotland’s hands,and 45% of voters chose to walk through that open constitutional door, to the opportunities to shape a new Scotland full, of potential, what’s changed.
Well everything and nothing. Everything in that politics never stands still and ‘status quo’ really is just a band. Political ‘events dear boy events’ happen that shape our lives, our choices and our options. Scotland in 2022 is very different from 2014. Layered into a decade of Tory austerity to ‘deal with a financial crisis’ our population didn’t create, we had a disempowered Brexit imposed on us that Scotland by majority didn’t vote for. It consumed our politics from 2016-2020 and its impact will continue shape our lives: until we chose for it, and other decisions made by governments we don’t vote for, not to. What has never changed is that only independence can put control IN Scotland, FOR Scotland. SO, what’s happened to the independence movement in the past years?
The global pandemic, challenged everyone of us from early 2020 and saw the best and worst of us, as crisis tends to do. We have seen a Scottish Government with independence as a core tenet of its constitution see a surge in party membership post Indy Ref and huge electoral success but we’ve seen the polling for independence remain, improve but remain largely stable at ~47%. This incredibly high start point for a campaign is something that the past giants who paved this road and whose shoulders we stand upon, would have scarcely believed but this open goal is only meaningful if we get the independence goal, firmly in the back of the net this time.
We’ve learned so much since 2014 on what worked, what didn’t and what new ideas we can try. The most telling lesson, supported by polling data, is that we have exhausted the push factor from Westminster from the 2019 pre-Brexit high watermark of 58%. The risk of change with a disempowered Brexit positioned against an empowered Independence, that had been well socialised in 2014, felt the bigger risk. Confidence in our capacity, capability and competence is key and for that we in Scotland have to do the pulling to get those numbers up. It’s never been clearer that if we truly want independence then it’s down to all of us so if IndyX can help to inspire us to get our collective shoulders to the wheel and build confidence of those we must convince then it will have been worth it.
To date we’ve had enquiries from across Scotland to support local groups, including Perth in July and Edinburgh Saturday 25th June. Details to follow. If three pals with a shared passion for Scottish Independence managed to remind others that working together is the essential ingredient for success and that we don’t need permission to gather to advance our common cause, then so can you. If you need help, just ask!